2. Look through
the text and give an oral summary of the concepts of motivation.

3. Write down a
plan of the text.

4. Read the text
once again and retell it according to your plan.

Supplementary Reading

Read the text
and discuss it using the questions that follow.

The Main Motives Which Energize And Direct Our Behavior.

Hunger Perhaps the most obvious kind of
motivations are those that result directly from physical needs. Biological
motives such as hunger and thirst are assumed to be « built-in »,
meaning that they exist from birth. You don’t have to learn to feel thirsty or
hungry. If you go without food or water for a sufficient time, the motivation
to obtain those substances occurs automatically. You then want a certain amount
of food or water until the condition is alleviated, bringing back to your
original stable point. Psychologists refer to this built-in tendency to
maintain stability as homeostasis. Any deviation from the optimal level
will create a need. The need usually will produce a drive, which is the motivational
force for action.

According to the
psychological researches, the inner push of hunger originates not primarily
from the stomach’s pangs, but from variations in body chemistry. For example,
we are likely to feel hungry when our glucose levels are low and our insulin levels
are high. This information is monitored by the lateral and ventromedial areas
of the hypothalamus, which regulate the body’s weight by influencing our
feelings of hunger and satiety. To regain its set-point weight, the body also
adjusts, is metabolic rate of energy expenditure.